The Official UKFF RAW Thread...

[HarmonicGenerator]

33 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I suspect Braun will be going into the tag title match at Wrestlemania alone, which is a shame. I think they could make an excellent show-long storyline on a Raw between now and then where he auditions for partners. Maybe he gets them to tip over trucks. Or see who can throw Michael Cole the furthest. Stuff like that. Also, I think Elias and Strowman would make a brilliant tag team double act. The skits alone would be great.

How many fucking matches are there going to be at Wrestlemania? Are the going to somehow do a show longer than the last two?!?

That would work so well for me! I’d love Braun to end up having to team with Elias. Imagine, they come out at Mania and Elias tries to get them to do a duet, so Braun destroys him. But they’ve still got the match! Braun basically fights it by himself but occasionally tags in Elias who’s half dead but Braun uses him as a human battering ram to help him smash the Bar even more. They win, obviously. I so want this to happen! Which means it won’t.

 

I was thinking about the number of Mania matches this morning and came up with:

1, Roman-Brock.

2, Styles-Nakamura.

3, Ronda.

4, Alexa’s match

5, Charlotte-Asuka

6, Moolah battle royal

7, IC triple threat

8, Cena-Taker

9, Cruiserweight title

10, US title match 

11, Usos/New Day/Bludgeons

12, something with Owens and Zayn

13, Bar and Braun

14, Andre battle royal / something for the rest of the blokes

 

So 14 matches. That’d maybe seem about right - 4 for the preshow, 10 for the main show. 

But then I got to thinking about which 4 matches get relegated to the preshow, and would probably pick the two battle royals, the cruisers and the US title match, but then realised it actually means the Usos are almost definitely missing out on the main show AGAIN and that is a massive shame.

Edited March 13, 2018 by HarmonicGenerator

[Kaz Hayashi]

13 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Best bit of the show was Miz standing in the background encouraging the crowd to "yes, yes, yes" thinking he'd got Balor and Rollins to fight each other.

It was.

His facial expressions were brilliant, grinning like the grinch just after the pair them had said “we know what you’re doing”, yet he still managed to get them fighting.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I don’t know whether it’s me being a goof, or whether I’m actually Nostradamus, but the way they cut from sad Elias to Braun shouting about Mania made me think immediately ‘oh, so they’re going to face The Bar’.

After the ending I’m now convinced we’re getting The Symphony of Destruction vs The Bar at Mania. Not sure it says a lot for the Raw tag division that they’re probably lobbing two singles together, and Braun probably deserves better, but Christ Braun/Elias as ‘The Symphony of Destruction’ sounds fun.

The Miz is fantastic.

John Cena is better.

Oh, and they’re sleepwalking into the worst possible of atmospheres for Roman/Brock. They’re getting the Lesnar/Goldie treatment, but worst.

Edited March 13, 2018 by d-d-d-dAz

[The Dart]

I think Strowman will definitely be teaming with Elias at Mania.  Surely with Cena vs. Taker happening, that's going on last, not Reigns vs. Lesnar or the Mixed Tag Match.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Something that bothered me; Stone Cold Roman Reigns goes to find Vince, all hot under the collar, yet when Vince says to go to the office he goes. Then, he skulks off silently before Vince tells the WWE universe that he told Roman to ‘know his role and shut his mouth’. Surely that’s a cue for Roman to show ultimate defiance and kick the shit out of everyone and spoil the show, show Vince his arse. Hey, if you were so willing to job out the tag teams scratch the Braun thing for the time being, and have Roman beat the piss out of them all to end the show.

But no, Roman was told off and went away quietly. No wonder no one likes him.

[air_raid]

17 minutes ago, The Dart said:

I think Strowman will definitely be teaming with Elias at Mania.  Surely with Cena vs. Taker happening, that's going on last, not Reigns vs. Lesnar or the Mixed Tag Match.

Or Styles v Nakamura, OBVS.

[TildeGuy~!]

Real shitty thing to do constantly advertising Brock Lesnar to be at shows just to try and get Roman Reigns over.

Ronda was advertised too wasn’t she? 

Have they stooped that low to sell tickets and get people to tune in? 

[tiger_rick]

On 06/03/2018 at 2:16 PM, tiger_rick said:

I'm not advocating it, just know how they work. As they're doing it for everything else, do we get the Andre The Giant Women's Battle Royal?

Actually called it for once.

Edited March 13, 2018 by tiger_rick
Well, sort of

[PSF]

23 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Real shitty thing to do constantly advertising Brock Lesnar to be at shows just to try and get Roman Reigns over.

Ronda was advertised too wasn’t she? 

Have they stooped that low to sell tickets and get people to tune in? 

**card subject to change

[ColinBollocks]

49 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Something that bothered me; Stone Cold Roman Reigns goes to find Vince, all hot under the collar, yet when Vince says to go to the office he goes. Then, he skulks off silently before Vince tells the WWE universe that he told Roman to ‘know his role and shut his mouth’. Surely that’s a cue for Roman to show ultimate defiance and kick the shit out of everyone and spoil the show, show Vince his arse. Hey, if you were so willing to job out the tag teams scratch the Braun thing for the time being, and have Roman beat the piss out of them all to end the show.

But no, Roman was told off and went away quietly. No wonder no one likes him.

It is the most bizarre of builds, eh? Even in the Elimination Chamber the man who had all the momentum and protection was Braun, even with the loss. Protecting their monster is cool, but it's proper hurt Reigns. Braun is the most protected and best booked guy in WWE going into 'Mania and he's fighting for the tag belts. I just hope the past couple of months is them wising up to the idea that Braun is the guy and they're just doing Lesnar/Reigns to complete The Plan - two years of work, mind. The idea being they'll keep throwing momentum on Braun until they have him win the belt.

I skipped past the Elias segment, but @HarmonicGenerator suggestion on pairing them up is a laugh, so do that. Elias constantly being a cock to the crowd and Braun, leading to him getting smashed and having his cadaver used as a weapon is pure cartoon.

[PunkStep]

If WWE are persisting with the Reigns/Brock match, they're running a huge risk of having the crowd completely shit on it. Brock has lost a lot of his heat and they're now doing their best at turning the crowd against him...in a vein of hope to get them behind Reigns more. The problem is, Reigns' promos are making him out to be a whiny bitch rather than somebody preaching about 'being there for the fans', like you had with Cena during his feud with The Rock. The fans may give this the 'oh fuck off' treatment during the match. Can't see it going down well at all.

They absolutely need Strowman to save this. I really hope there's a big twist down the line to have him a part of the match. Even something pretty mental like winning the tag titles at Mania, then being a surprise last-minute addition to the match by Kurt. Who knows how that can be explained without an easy assist from a MITB briefcase and suchlike, but fuck it- it'll be an ideal outcome.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I thought Cena’s segment showed why the Reigns/crowd dynamic doesn’t feel the same, and doesn’t feel like it’ll work for them the same way Cena’s did. 

There’s a level of connection between Cena and the audience that I think is super rare in the history of wrestling. I think it’s different than Hogan’s, Rock or Austin’s. They were all hero worshipped, for one reason or other. They were ‘other worldly’ in their own ways, whereas despite his muscles and superhero demeanour, Cena sort of seems like ‘one of us’. He’s so nerdy at times, it’s unbelievable. Plus, he hasn’t really had that chance to bask in adoration so that, in itself, has kept his feet tethered to the ground in terms of fan perception. I don’t know. It just seemed as he was bouncing around the audience, everyone has fun with him. And most importantly, for all his faults, he clearly loves WWE, loves the audience and is having loads of fun himself.

And that’s the issue, maybe. Reigns always seems a little sour. He doesn’t appear to be having fun. He’s aloof in the face of the audience ‘expressing themselves’, as Cole says, and that just seems like the worst possible way to go.

[jonnybgoode82]

1 hour ago, PunkStep said:

If WWE are persisting with the Reigns/Brock match, they're running a huge risk of having the crowd completely shit on it. Brock has lost a lot of his heat and they're now doing their best at turning the crowd against him...in a vein of hope to get them behind Reigns more. The problem is, Reigns' promos are making him out to be a whiny bitch rather than somebody preaching about 'being there for the fans', like you had with Cena during his feud with The Rock. The fans may give this the 'oh fuck off' treatment during the match. Can't see it going down well at all.

They absolutely need Strowman to save this. I really hope there's a big twist down the line to have him a part of the match. Even something pretty mental like winning the tag titles at Mania, then being a surprise last-minute addition to the match by Kurt. Who knows how that can be explained without an easy assist from a MITB briefcase and suchlike, but fuck it- it'll be an ideal outcome.

One thought I had is that Kurt steps in and says they can’t have a singles guy wrestle a handicap match for the titles but Braun has earned a title shot with his performances, so he’s now in the main event as part of a triple threat. 

[Kaz Hayashi]

2 minutes ago, jonnybgoode82 said:

One thought I had is that Kurt steps in and says they can’t have a singles guy wrestle a handicap match for the titles but Braun has earned a title shot with his performances, so he’s now in the main event as part of a triple threat. 

Bit of a jump though isn’t it, from a tag title challenge bumped to the main title because he doesn’t have a partner?

I don’t think they will. He may feature in the match but not as a competitor. 

I think the match is what it is and they’ll see it through, hoping for the best. 

In terms of Braun and making him look like a monster, I’m all for him going on a rampage about the fact he isn’t in the main title picture. He could always turn up at the end of both world title matches and clean house to show dominance.

[I Bent My Wookie]

I'd happily bring James Elsworth back and have his story with Braun go full circle with Braun being told he has to find a partner and just being like screw it I can use him as a weapon as well. Have Braun get DQ'd for excessive violence on everyone. I doubt they Reigns and Lesnar will go on last so have him come out and lay out Reigns after the match for what will probably be the biggest Mania pop in years.